What Is the Flippening?

People active in bitcoin and altcoin circles are often referring to a trend known as “the flippening”. it is evident the cryptocurrency landscape is undergoing some major changes, even though some users remain oblivious to what is going on. Now is a good time to explain the flippening and how it can affect bitcoin’s position as the top cryptocurrency in the next few years.

What On Earth is The Flippening?

Truth be told, it took some time to figure out what people mean by referring to the flippening. Consumers, investors, traders, and speculators have shown an appreciation for bitcoin these past few years, despite the cryptocurrency being far from perfect. Any other currency, or altcoin if you prefer that term, seemingly derives its value from being paired to bitcoin’s price. Over the years, this caused the value of altcoins to go down if bitcoin’s price took a hit.

That being said, things are changing in the world of bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Bitcoin “maximalists” have held onto their BTC supply in the hopes of everything turning out to be alright. So far, there has been no evidence proving these people wrong, yet that does not mean bitcoin is in a good place right now. Particularly speculators are actively diversifying their portfolio by investing in altcoins, as they grow concerned over bitcoin’s scaling issues.

Altcoins, on the other hand, have always been looked at as “second-rate projects” by bitcoin maximalists. One could argue there was an air of disdain between most pro-bitcoiners and those whose see the merit of alternative cryptocurrencies. Multiple years of friction have caused a paradigm shift in the cryptocurrency world, an effect known as the flippening. To be more specific, it is evident most altcoin traders no longer base individual coins’ value on the bitcoin price.

As a result of this paradigm shift known as the flippening, it is very well possible bitcoin may not be the dominant cryptocurrency in the future. Or to be more precise, it may not hold such a big lead over other cryptocurrencies moving forward. Bitcoin’s share of the total cryptocurrency market cap continues to dwindle, allowing altcoins to rise in value, regardless of what is happening to the bitcoin price. Until a year or two ago, such a change seemed impossible, yet the charts speak for themselves.

This does not mean people will lose faith in bitcoin by any means. Instead, a more competitive cryptocurrency ecosystem will be created, and altcoins are expected to significantly rise in value over the next few months and years. Ethereum, Monero, Dash, Factom, and others are all trying to find their place in the world right now. Nearly all of these currencies have risen in value despite bitcoin’s price either stagnating or going down. While it is possible this is just a temporary change, the flippening is not a trend that should be ignored by any means.

Leading the charge during “the flippening” is Ethereum. Several dozen ICOs are offered on top of the Ethereum blockchain, rather than using Bitcoin’s technology. It is evident Bitcoin will not be suitable for every project one can think of, or at least not in its current state. Competition in the cryptocurrency industry can only be a good thing. The flippening indicates this shift towards a more competitive industry in which bitcoin will not necessarily be the center of focus any longer.

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About The Author

JP Buntinx is a FinTech and Bitcoin enthusiast living in Belgium. His passion for finance and technology made him one of the world's leading freelance Bitcoin writers, and he aims to achieve the same level of respect in the FinTech sector.

JRocBaby

Most of the people investing in altcoins now are going to lose their shirts. Bitcoin may not have its act together for the moment but its act is still a lot more together than the altcoins. Bitcoin is massively more secure than any other blockchain. Big increases in altcoin prices + low levels of security = inevitable hacks, bugs and issues. Expect to see lots of collapses in the coming weeks and months.

Jeff Jarods

Also very true, so much of their rise is just people trying to make a quick buck so its a guarantee thats gonna happen

Vivir Bien

I am a big fan and believer in Bitcoin, but the arguments many Bitcoiners make for its advantage over other altcoins often do not make sense.

For example, many Bitcoiners claim Bitcoin’s big advantage is its “security” over other altcoins, but from my perspective, the major “security risk” with all cryptocurrency largely lies with the user – not with the blockchain itself.

I’m sorry but I am not the slightest bit worried about the “security” of Dogecoin or Dash or even UFOcoin. Since when did any blockchain “fail” from a “security” perspective? The reason I don’t want any UFOcoin is not due to flawed security but due to lack of usability.

If you want to harp on about the DAO “security failure” we have to remember there was never a security risk to the Ethereum blockchain itself, it was due to a faulty smart contract built by amateur programmers. I had absolutely zero concern for my Ether during the DAO fiasco.

No, “security” is not why most users choose Bitcoin over any other cryptocurrency (or if they do, they are misguided in my view). The only true advantage Bitcoin has over other altcoins is liquidity and usability/tradeability – it’s the easiest coin to spend and it’s the easiest one to trade in and out of fiat. If that advantage ever goes away, Bitcoin will dwindle like Ataris did in the late 80s.

BlogaBlingaDonga

It’s funny how each person’s crystal ball shows them a different future, based on what they want to be true. I welcome the rise of the altcoins, but don’t count out Bitcoin yet…People keep trying to shoot it down, but the drama level is probably a bit overblown…Have we already forgotten how bad the DAO fork debate got? What was the price of BTC 6 months ago? There’s money in it (a lot), so getting jumpy is perfectly understandable…But if you’re going to panic sell and pump a bunch into altcoins, be ready for when that panic bubble bursts too

Jeff Jarods

Exactly well said couldnt have said it any better myself all of this in the end is par for the course anyway and anyone who has been doing this for awhile should know that by now

Buzz Lightyear

I don’t think “multiple years of friction” accounts for that much of the flippening. It’s more to do with the fact that it’s simply easier to understand value in terms of USD instead of BTC. This is especially true since the value of USD is by definition less volatile than BTC.

I think the main factors at play here are the rise of Tether (USDT). At this point I expect most people to just be paying attention to the */USDT markets (and the plain */USD markets) and using the */BTC markets for arbitrage mostly.

Sacto

I’m not sure the term “flippening” wasn’t invented by the article’s author to give himself something easy to write about.

Mamma_said_knock_u_out

I support BTC as well as some altcoins. I’m an active miner, but yet, I’m not in the most friendliest of regions when it comes to the cost of electricity; $0.14111/KWh here. Mother Nature helps with cooling the systems in the winter – and heats my house, but that ~cost~ of mining is what dictates what I mine. I use to mine strictly BTC because that was where the profit was. As that BTC difficulty rose upward and Ethereum established itself, profits from BTC shrank, but profits from ETH were steady if not rising. Eventually BTC became unprofitable to mine even with the newest ASIC’s. I then started maximizing my mining capacity for Ethereum. I guess what I’m saying is; not only is the “flippening” due to “whats hot and whats not” by investors, its what the actual miners are mining in terms of profitability.

Spike Spiegel

every altcoin thinks they are next btc. and it’s possible. but eth, known best for breaking promises, fraud, theft from users, censorship, zero security, is probably not the one. once rootstock arrives for btc in a month, eth is nothing but an unsecure sketchy testnet it acts like. most crypto developers can’t agree on much, but virtually all altcoin and bitcoin developers agree that ethereum is the worst of crypto in same league as onecoin and other fraudulent money grabbing projects.

Afterschool Carl

sounds like someone bet on the wrong horse

wrinkle

Btc is lost. Forget on it. It will sink back to 100USD soon. Buy ETH its your lucky star. It will climb to $10.000 soonish

Bitchaos

You are so off, it isn’t even a pump. Bitcoin will always be the “standard” of crypto. ETH Classic is far more pure than Eth and both will make many rich but let us not kid ourselves. ETH is a great platform and will reach 1k in the very near future but when ETH is at 1k, Bitcoin will be at 10,000.